Airborne connectivity is becoming an important subject, capable of providing service differentiation and/or revenue generation for airlines, according to their business model. Following the demise of Connexion by Boeing (CBB) a number of companies have entered the market but a comparison with CBB is difficult due the varying claims that each is making. The result is a highly confusing picture for a potential customer, particularly under the current economic climate. Last year’s fuel crisis has already contributed to the insolence of many struggling aircraft operators but the banking crisis had an even bigger impact. The difficulty to arrange finance continues to throttle growth in all aviation sectors over the coming months. Thus, the economic downturn is likely to reduce the number of immediate Aerosatcom projects and to greatly the prospects for some time to come.In response to this situation, the main objective and scope of this ESA-funded study is to assess the commercial and technical feasibility of a number of non-safety aeronautical communication solutions and business models in order to identify the commercial viability and technical feasibility of current and emerging connectivity solutions for the Air Transport, Business Aviation and Government market segments.

TriaGnoSys contributes to this project by its exceptional knowledge and expertise in aeronautical communications. TGS will specifically contribute significantly (a) to the assessment of past, current and planned commercial systems, (b) to the identification of significant technology trends, (c) to the definition of markets and services being relevant in the near, mid and long term (5, 10, and 15 years), finally, (d) to the business analysis for air transport by implementation of a comprehensive and flexible software tool. This software tool uses a current database of global schedule flights and allows to take into account all relevant aspects, such as satellite coverage, regional air traffic variations, flight duration, aircraft models, load factors, service acceptance, traffic models, pricing models, etc.

click to enlargeRevenue projection methodology and tools for the passenger communications / air transport